Iconoclastically yours!

The last journey

Iconoclasticallly yours by www.iconoclasticallyyours.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License

As soon as we entered my vet’s office, everyone was under the charm. He is so handsome, he looks so good; look at those beautiful eyes, and his mouth. He is smiling. Pouch, his leash was in his mouth, as usual, and he was taking the compliments like an old pro. His eyes were saying “hey I have been around the block. I know I look good! You should see the girls at home. They are always around me!” and then, being honest “there is no more competition now that Zeus is gone!”

But I have to acknowledge that he is cute! The older he gets, the younger his face and attitude become. Our 13 year old Pouch has a puppy face, or maybe it’s his attitude, the look in his eyes, there is just something about Pouch!

He was there for a manicure, and a blood test, I hate the word “geriatric.” You can’t think geriatric when you look at him! Feels more like kindergarten to me!

Chet, our vet, was ecstatic about him! His teeth look good, his ears are good (hey he was the one who had ear infection after ear infection, then one day after shaking his head one too many times, he managed to have a swollen ear filled with liquid of some sort, and the vet had to sew his ear in order for the liquid not to be able to make its home there! And of course, since it was Pouch, the ear did not have to be sewn once, but three times! The magic number!).

But going back to Chet, Pouch was his kind of guy, easy to deal with, lean, handsome, and in good health! That was until the results of the blood test appeared on Chet’s computer a few minutes later. Jessica got it right away that something bad had just happened. Suddenly the world stayed still. His lymphocytes were high, far too high: over 40,000. More tests went on, X-rays, and I saw a puzzled look on Chet’s face: everything else was normal.

In a week, most likely, we will know what we have to fight against or to live with. Since I am not the patient type, I did some research, and like everything else in life: there was the good and the bad stuff. The bad stuff is that one day, he will die. The good stuff is that since he has no symptoms and since his lymphocytes were slightly elevated 18 months ago, he probably has chronic leukemia, which is the best one to get if you have a choice.

Cancer is there, no doubt about it. As soon as those darn lymphocytes are over 20,000, the beast is somewhere. All the other illnesses would have killed him months ago. So it’s good, right? Without any chemotherapy, the average survival after diagnosis is 2 years. Our boy would be 15 by then, not bad for a big goofy dog!

Yes, it’s sad because we know that most likely, he won’t be in the Book of Records for being alive at 35 years of age, but at the same time, and for the first time, we have time. All our other four legged ones have always been diagnosed and put to sleep the same day, so Pouch is giving us a chance we did not have before: to enjoy our last part of the journey together, to make it a bit more special for him, and to make more special memories of him. I mean, don’t worry, we already have some, but more than anything else, when it will be time to let him go, we won’t have regrets of not having walked him that day, or scratched his tummy, or, yes I know what you think: play ball! Forget about that one: our Golden Retriever doesn’t retrieve, and he doesn’t swim either by the way!

Pouch has followed Jessica from 4th grade to college, and he is only happy when she is around. He is the shadow of her shadow the same way than Zeus was mine.

I could have started this column by saying “Pouch, the Golden Retriever who liked Tabasco, clean Cognac glasses, and croissants!” He is just Pouch! Sometimes he drives you crazy, especially when he has that stubborn look in his eyes if you are trying to make him move, but he makes you melt in his honey brown eyes!

Every puppy should come with a warning “Provides unconditional love, joy, happiness, but also causes broken hearts.”

Like with our other four-legged companions, the only thing which will matter at the end is his quality of life. That’s one thing we can and should give to our four legged: to die with dignity.

Iconoclastically yours,

Dominique